CHARLESTON — Severe thunderstorms yesterday evening and last night in the coalfields areas knocked out electricity to nearly 22,000 Appalachian Power customers in West Virginia.

The Associated Press reported this morning that the utility says on its website that nearly 5,600 customers lost service in Lincoln County on Tuesday night. Several thousand outages also were reported in Kanawha, Logan, Putnam and Wayne counties.

In Boone County, power outages happened for a few seconds at a time during the high winds, heavy rains and hail storms that started around 6 p.m.

Hail poured down in Logan and in Boone County and covered areas in ice.

The traffic lights at the Fountain Place Mall entrance from U.S. Route 119 were still blinking this morning around 8 a.m.

Several hundred customers also lost service in Mason, Mingo and Raleigh counties as the storms rolled through.

Also this morning, more than 15,800 Appalachian Power customers remain without electricity. The Associated Press reported that Appalachian Power’s website shows more than 2,200 outages Wednesday morning in Raleigh County and about 1,000 outages in Wayne County.

There also are outages in McDowell, Mingo, Putnam and Roane counties.